Karangarua River Bridge, Haast Highway, West Coast

Description: In the 1920s most of the rivers south of Franz Josef were not yet bridged, and travel in South Westland was slow and difficult. Over the next two decades a series of single-lane suspension bridges were built, similar in design to this one at the Karangarua River (1940). With a 130-metre span, it is the longest single-suspension span still in use in New Zealand.